Yohanes 4:38

4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Yohanes 5:43

5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept ¹  me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept ²  him.

Yohanes 7:26

7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, ³  and they are saying nothing to him. ⁴  Do the rulers really know that this man ⁵  is the Christ? ⁶ 

Yohanes 7:45

Lack of Belief

7:45 Then the officers ⁷  returned ⁸  to the chief priests and Pharisees, ⁹  who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?” ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 8:29

8:29 And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, ¹¹  because I always do those things that please him.”

Yohanes 8:54

8:54 Jesus replied, ¹²  “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. ¹³  The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people ¹⁴  say, ‘He is our God.’

Yohanes 9:31

9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ¹⁵  sinners, but if anyone is devout ¹⁶  and does his will, God ¹⁷  listens to ¹⁸  him. ¹⁹ 

Yohanes 10:25

10:25 Jesus replied, ²⁰  “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds ²¹  I do in my Father’s name testify about me.

Yohanes 10:41

10:41 Many ²²  came to him and began to say, “John ²³  performed ²⁴  no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man ²⁵  was true!”

Yohanes 14:19

14:19 In a little while ²⁶  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too.

Yohanes 15:2

15:2 He takes away ²⁷  every branch that does not bear ²⁸  fruit in me. He ²⁹  prunes ³⁰  every branch that bears ³¹  fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

Yohanes 21:11

21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was ³²  full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, ³³  but although there were so many, the net was not torn.

[5:43]  ¹ tn Or “you do not receive.”

[5:43]  ² tn Or “you will receive.”

[7:26]  ³ tn Or “speaking openly.”

[7:26]  ⁴ sn They are saying nothing to him. Some people who had heard Jesus were so impressed with his teaching that they began to infer from the inactivity of the opposing Jewish leaders a tacit acknowledgment of Jesus’ claims.

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[7:26]  ⁶ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:26]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[7:45]  ⁷ tn Or “servants.” The “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. As “servants” or “officers” of the Sanhedrin, their representatives should be distinguished from the Levites serving as temple police (perhaps John 7:30 and 44; also John 8:20; 10:39; 19:6; Acts 4:3). Even when performing ‘police’ duties such as here, their “officers” are doing so only as part of their general tasks (See K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT 8:540).

[7:45]  ⁸ tn Grk “came.”

[7:45]  ⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[7:45]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Why did you not bring him?” The words “back with you” are implied.

[8:29]  ¹¹ tn That is, “he has not abandoned me.”

[8:54]  ¹² tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

[8:54]  ¹³ tn Grk “is nothing.”

[8:54]  ¹⁴ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[9:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ¹⁶ tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “this one.”

[10:25]  ²⁰ tn Grk “answered them.”

[10:25]  ²¹ tn Or “the works.”

[10:41]  ²² tn Grk “And many.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:41]  ²³ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[10:41]  ²⁴ tn Grk “did.”

[10:41]  ²⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[14:19]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Yet a little while, and.”

[15:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “He cuts off.”

[15:2]  sn The Greek verb αἴρω (airw) can mean “lift up” as well as “take away,” and it is sometimes argued that here it is a reference to the gardener “lifting up” (i.e., propping up) a weak branch so that it bears fruit again. In Johannine usage the word occurs in the sense of “lift up” in 8:59 and 5:8-12, but in the sense of “remove” it is found in 11:39, 11:48, 16:22, and 17:15. In context (theological presuppositions aside for the moment) the meaning “remove” does seem more natural and less forced (particularly in light of v. 6, where worthless branches are described as being “thrown out” – an image that seems incompatible with restoration). One option, therefore, would be to understand the branches which are taken away (v. 2) and thrown out (v. 6) as believers who forfeit their salvation because of unfruitfulness. However, many see this interpretation as encountering problems with the Johannine teaching on the security of the believer, especially John 10:28-29. This leaves two basic ways of understanding Jesus’ statements about removal of branches in 15:2 and 15:6: (1) These statements may refer to an unfaithful (disobedient) Christian, who is judged at the judgment seat of Christ “through fire” (cf. 1 Cor 3:11-15). In this case the “removal” of 15:2 may refer (in an extreme case) to the physical death of a disobedient Christian. (2) These statements may refer to someone who was never a genuine believer in the first place (e.g., Judas and the Jews who withdrew after Jesus’ difficult teaching in 6:66), in which case 15:6 refers to eternal judgment. In either instance it is clear that 15:6 refers to the fires of judgment (cf. OT imagery in Ps 80:16 and Ezek 15:1-8). But view (1) requires us to understand this in terms of the judgment of believers at the judgment seat of Christ. This concept does not appear in the Fourth Gospel because from the perspective of the author the believer does not come under judgment; note especially 3:18, 5:24, 5:29. The first reference (3:18) is especially important because it occurs in the context of 3:16-21, the section which is key to the framework of the entire Fourth Gospel and which is repeatedly alluded to throughout. A similar image to this one is used by John the Baptist in Matt 3:10, “And the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Since this is addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to John for baptism, it almost certainly represents a call to initial repentance. More importantly, however, the imagery of being cast into the fire constitutes a reference to eternal judgment, a use of imagery which is much nearer to the Johannine imagery in 15:6 than the Pauline concept of the judgment seat of Christ (a judgment for believers) mentioned above. The use of the Greek verb μένω (menw) in 15:6 also supports view (2). When used of the relationship between Jesus and the disciple and/or Jesus and the Father, it emphasizes the permanence of the relationship (John 6:56, 8:31, 8:35, 14:10). The prototypical branch who has not remained is Judas, who departed in 13:30. He did not bear fruit, and is now in the realm of darkness, a mere tool of Satan. His eternal destiny, being cast into the fire of eternal judgment, is still to come. It seems most likely, therefore, that the branches who do not bear fruit and are taken away and burned are false believers, those who profess to belong to Jesus but who in reality do not belong to him. In the Gospel of John, the primary example of this category is Judas. In 1 John 2:18-19 the “antichrists” fall into the same category; they too may be thought of as branches that did not bear fruit. They departed from the ranks of the Christians because they never did really belong, and their departure shows that they did not belong.

[15:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “does not yield.”

[15:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “And he”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[15:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “trims”; Grk “cleanses” (a wordplay with “clean” in v. 3). Καθαίρει (kaqairei) is not the word one would have expected here, but it provides the transition from the vine imagery to the disciples – there is a wordplay (not reproducible in English) between αἴρει (airei) and καθαίρει in this verse. While the purpose of the Father in cleansing his people is clear, the precise means by which he does so is not immediately obvious. This will become clearer, however, in the following verse.

[15:2]  ³¹ tn Or “that yields.”

[21:11]  ³² tn The words “It was” are not in the Greek text. Here a new sentence was begun in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences. For this reason the words “It was” had to be supplied.

[21:11]  ³³ sn Here the author makes two further points about the catch of fish: (1) there were one hundred fifty-three large fish in the net, and (2) even with so many, the net was not torn. Many symbolic interpretations have been proposed for both points (unity, especially, in the case of the second), but the reader is given no explicit clarification in the text itself. It seems better not to speculate here, but to see these details as indicative of an eyewitness account. Both are the sort of thing that would remain in the mind of a person who had witnessed them firsthand. For a summary of the symbolic interpretations proposed for the number of fish in the net, see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:1074-75), where a number are discussed at length. Perhaps the reader is simply to understand this as the abundance which results from obedience to Jesus, much as with the amount of wine generated in the water jars in Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (2:6).